Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-09-14

olive tree is impossible, or will give
but meagre results in rich soil, we'll
cultivated and abundantly manured.
Such soil well selected, and pro-
vided it is properly drained, will give
a good yield, which will be as in all
other cultures the direct result of the
good care that will be given to the
tree. We should, however, bear in
mind that it has been said time and
time over by the best authorities OH
the subject, and especially by Michaux,
that the quality of the fruit of the olive
is essentially affected by that OF the
soil, and that while it succeeds in
good loan. capable of bearing wheat
and vines, in fat lands it yields oil OF
an inferior flavor, and becomes laden
with a barren exuberance of leaves
and branches.
Moreover those rich valley lands are
! not always within the means OF all
parties who desire to avail themselves
| of the numerous advantages that the
culture of the olive tree presents.
Those with but modest means at their
disposal will rather invest in fifty to
one hundred acres of hill lands more
or less rocky, if the outlay for the
same will not be above that required
for the purchase of from ten to twenty
acres only of a richer soil especially If
it is fully demonstrated to them that
the olive tree will grow well on those
steep and stony lands, and that while
they are not likely to lose anything in
quantity relatively to richer soil
they will gain the advantage offa finer
quality in the product.
Let us thus study the cost of a PLAN
tation and its proper care on rocky
lands, the price of which may vary
from $40 to $50 per acre, according to
their nearness to or remoteness from a
city, or facilities of transportation. l
will take in this, as a basis, my own
plantation of about 5000 olive trees,
which l made in 1884 on hill lands,
most of them inaccessible to the plow,
and where l have had all the work
done by hand.
Planting as much as possible at
distance of twenty feet-for on such
places regular lines could not be made
we have about 100 trees per acre,
leaving out the very few patches where
it is utterly impossible to plant even
an olive tree. We will select for this
plantation one-year-old rooted cut
tings, coming directly or originally
from trees that have been grated, of
which the stem will be hardly from
ten to twelve inches high, and the
roots from three to six inches long.
For such small trees it will be suffi-
cient to dig the ground one foot deep,
or one foot and half when the soil
permits, but where the hole cannot
be dug as deep as that some OF the
surrounding earth can be brought
around the tree in a concave shape.
The digging of these 100 holes, and
the planting uf the trees should not
cost above So per acre. Two hoeings
of a space about three feet wide
around each tree, one in early spring
and one in early summer, at $1.50
each, will make it So altogether per
acre. The small rooted cuttings can
be had at prices ranging from $40 to
SIS per hundred, according to sizes;
and taking their maximum cost OF $l5
we come to total Of $23 per acre for
all the years expenses, independently
of the cost of the land, which can be
bought as cheap as $40 per acre, and
even cheaper if the purchaser is not
particular about being near the city or
a railroad.
During the following years three
hoeings, distanced according to more
or less rainy season, will be more than
is required to keep the plantation in
very good condition; it will not cost
altogether over $5 per acre, to which
can be added the cost of pruning every
two years, and, if desired, the cost Of
manuring every two or three years.
When comparing this simple and
cheap work with the care required by
a vineyard, which, besides the regular
cultivation, pruning, plowing, hoeing,
tying, needs expensive stakes, sucker
ing, summer pruning, sulphuring,
etc., one can readily perceive the ad-
vantages to be found in olive culture.
-[F'rom Flamant's "Olive Culture"
Damiana Bitters regulate the stomach
Michel Levy & Co., wholesale liquor dealers
agents.